After The Smoke Clears
by That Creative One
Summary: Feuilly wakes one night from a horrible nightmare and suffers though it alone- until he hears a knock on his door. (I'm still going through a Feuilly phase, forgive me. Please R&R! Other category(s): Romance, but only hints of it.)


**A/N: So…I am still going through a Feuilly phase and had a plot bunny for him. Have fun with this one! **

Chapter One

_Smoke engulfed the one-level house where 16-year old Simon Feuilly lived with his adopted parents and his 7-year old blood sister Mariette Feuilly. Tongues of flames liked at the sides of the house and the floor was consumed by it. Simon was in his bedroom when he heard crackling and roaring. Sleepily, he stuck his head outside door and saw bright flames dancing across the wooden floor. Suddenly he was wide awake as he watched black, charred hunks of what used to be the ceiling and walls cracking and falling down in plumes of smoke. _

_ "Simon!" A young girl's cry came, and Simon could just make out the shape of a girl in a nightgown through the haze. "Simon!" Mariette cried again, and it took all of Simon's willpower not to sprint barefoot across the blazing floor. If he did, he would be horribly burned and most likely die in the process, leaving seven year old Mariette alone in a burning house. _

_ "Mariette!" Simon called back, and searched the floor for any bare patches he could possibly use to hop across the floor. No such luck. "Mariette- just stay there, I'm going to help you." He tried to reassure the young girl. _

_ "Simon, I'm scared," Mariette whimpered, her brown eyes large with fear. Her voice was filled with terror and it made Simon's heart crack. _

_ "Just stay calm, alright?" Simon said, and he turned around to see if there was some alternate way to the other side of the house, where Mariette was standing, when he heard her scream. A terror and pain filled scream- the scream of one who was experiencing the worst pain in their life. And that scream was currently coming from a 7-year old girl. _

_ Simon whipped back around. The haze had cleared around Mariette, revealing her sooty nightgown and smudged face filled with terror. Up until her chest, she was engulfed in flames. Tears were streaming down her face, which contorted in pain. _

_ "Simon! It hurts," she wailed, and Simon could do nothing. Absolutely nothing. He could only stand and watch as flames devoured his 7-year old sister. _

_ "Please," Mariette sobbed as the flames rose higher, "Make it stop, Simon. It hurts, please," she begged her older brother. _

_ Simon could feel tears dripping down his own face as he screamed, "Mariette!" _

_ Mariette screamed again, in pain and terror. Simon was forced to stand, rooted to the spot as he watched his younger sister slowly be eaten alive by flames. It was pure agony and was like a knife in his heart every time her cries and pleas of help pierced the smoky air. _

_ Finally, after an eternity of pain for the both of them, Mariette collapsed, and Simon screamed, "No! Mariette!" Suddenly, all the flames disappeared and Simon wasted no time sprinting across the hallway to the burned corpse of his sister. No, not corpse- she was still breathing. _

_ "Simon," she breathed in a raspy voice, "Where were you?" Simon was holding Mariette in his arms, their hands tightly interwoven. Suddenly, her grip slacked as her eyes glazed over. _

_ "Mariette," Simon said, his throat tight with smoke and tears, "Mariette, please don't die! Mariette!" He screamed. The flames came back and grew all around him, and he felt his body burn with pain beyond his comprehension. His throat and chest burned with every breath he took. "Mariette!" He screamed once more before the pain overcame him. _

Feuilly woke with a strangled scream, "Mariette!" He sat bolt up, feeling his lungs burn for oxygen. Slowly, Feuilly realized that he wasn't in a burning house, but sitting in his torn mattress of a bed, in his run-down apartment. No smoke. No flames. No screams.

Feuilly took a shaky gasp and drew his knees up to his chest. Lying his head down on his knees, he took a series of deep breaths until his heart rate was back to normal. Nightmares rarely came to Feuilly- but when they did, they left him shaken and frightened.

When Feuilly finally calmed down, he lay back in bed and closed his eyes. But something was keeping him awake- not the nightmare. No, it was a feeling of loneliness and vulnerability. Like he was five years old, awake in the dead of night but all alone.

For a while, he laid like this- awake, alone, and afraid. Suddenly, there was a knock on his door.

Feuilly sat up and wondered who could possibly be here at this hour in the morning. He stood up and made his way to the door as the rapping got more insistent.

He tried to open the door as quietly as he could; it squeaked quite a lot and he didn't want to risk waking the neighbors and getting kicked out. There, he could barely make out a figure standing in the darkness. "Eponine?" Feuilly asked in a perplexed voice.

"Are you alright?" Eponine asked immediately, sounding concerned.

"Yes…" Feuilly nodded, still confused. "Is there any particular reason you're here at somewhere around two o'clock in the morning?" He took a stab at the time, since he didn't have clock to check it with.

"I just got the feeling something was…_wrong_, so I came over here to check if you were okay." She said, shivering slightly in the cold night breeze. Although it wasn't much warmer inside, Feuilly quickly invited her in.

Neither of them turned on a light as they walked to the back of the house, to Feuilly's bedroom. They sat down on the edge of Feuilly's bed in a comfortable silence. Now that he wasn't alone anymore, Feuilly could feel the effects of the nightmare coming back. He could feel the heat of the flames and see his little sister's terrified face, hear her scream.

Feuilly's eyes prickled with tears, but he refused to let them fall. Eponine took note of his silence and said, "Are you sure you're okay?" Feuilly nodded tightly, not trusting himself to speak for fear he would start crying like a child. Instead, he stared at the floor.

Eponine sighed and said, "Feuilly, I know you. I can tell when something's wrong. Be honest with me, is everything alright?"

Part of Feuilly wanted to admit what had happened, to open up to her. But Feuilly didn't want to show any weakness or vulnerability in front of Eponine- he thought that if he showed her a weaker side of him, she would think less of him. Who would possibly love a man that cried over a nightmare? Not that Feuilly loved Eponine- okay, yes, he totally did.

"Yeah, everything's fine," Feuilly said, but his voice cracked. Eponine moved a little closer to him.

"Nightmare?" Eponine whispered to him, and Feuilly nodded again, blinking. Tears slowly dripped down his face, and he put his head in his hands.

Eponine moved right next to him and put her arm over his shoulders. "Nightmares are the _worst!" _She said quietly, her voice speaking from experience. "Why didn't you _tell_ me?" She sounded concerned and almost slightly offended.

Feuilly shrugged helplessly, his shoulders shaking slightly. Eponine murmured comforting words to him, and he calmed down a bit, finally coming to rest his head on Eponine's shoulder. She still had her arm around his shoulders, her fingers brushing his auburn bangs back from his eyes. Finally, she asked quietly, "What was it about?"

Feuilly took a shaky breath and answered, "A fire that happened when I was 16. My sister- Mariette- she d-died in the dream."

Eponine paused slightly before adding, "Did she die…in the actual fire?"

"No. No one was hurt in the fire- it wasn't even that big. She goes to a boarding school in America now." Feuilly said, smiling gently at the memory of the day Mariette's acceptance letter came. She had screamed so loudly everyone thought she was hurt, but she was ecstatic.

Eponine nodded. Feuilly blinked back tears, his eyes stinging. As if she could read his mind, Eponine said, "You can cry, it's alright. Crying never hurt anybody." She hugged him slightly closer, as if to emphasize her point.

Feuilly was relieved to hear her say that. He leaned in closer to her and finally let the tears fall. He put his head down on his knees again, crying quietly.

Eponine whispered in his ear. "When I was six years old, I had a nightmare that someone was trying to drown me under a waterfall. It was horrible- I could feel the person gripping my neck, and the force of the water stinging my face. I woke up crying, and my Mama came in and sang me to sleep. I still remember that nightmare with incredible detail." She told him.

Feuilly took a deep breath and calmed down, relaxing in Eponine's hold. She laid her head on his. As if by silent agreement, the two slid into Feuilly's bed, the one blanket barely covering the both of them. Feuilly fell asleep almost immediately, but Eponine stayed awake, lost in thought.

The next morning, the neighbors could swear they heard an angel singing a lullaby.


End file.
